question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
|---|---|---|
what's the difference between a forest and a wood? | They're used interchangeably a lot. You'll get different answers from different resources, but the general consensus seems to be that woods are smaller than forests.
> A wood is an area covered in trees, larger than a grove or a copse. A forest is also an area covered in trees, but it is larger than a wood
> The ... | [
"Wood is divided, according to its botanical origin, into two kinds: softwoods, from coniferous trees, and hardwoods, from broad-leaved trees. Softwoods are lighter and generally simple in structure, whereas hardwoods are harder and more complex. However, in Australia, \"softwood\" generally describes rain forest t... |
Are there any good source material on the Warsaw Ghetto to be had online? | Many of the relevant primary sources wont contain the those specific details in an aggregated way. There are a few great examples of diaries and reports coming from the Warsaw Ghetto. The statistics you are looking for would likely come from secondary sources.
One great example is the Stroop Report. This is written by... | [
"Engelking's book \"The Warsaw Ghetto: A Guide to the Perished City\" (2009), written with Jacek Leociak, provides detailed maps of the ghetto so that readers can locate the streets and former community structures. Michael Marrus described it as \"a stunning work, one of the most important books on the history of t... |
we do we instinctively grab a part of our body after it is hurt? | A) instinct. To protect it from further damage (if the damaging agent is ongoing) or to prevent bleeding and such.
B) pain. Our brain knows that pressure sensation blocks pain sensation from experience. So we reflexively grab the injury site because it alleviates the pain.
Edit: English and clarity | [
"Bring the victim into a sitting position, making sure that both legs are free. Approach him from behind, putting both your arms under his armpits. Both your hands then grab one of the lower arms of the victim with all fingers and the thumbs being placed on top of that lower arm and parallel to each other (so calle... |
Following the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, were there any cases of slave-owners attempting to continue the practice illegally? | It was less a few dark corners, and more a concerted effort by large swathes of society, who attempted to keep slavery alive in all but name. Here is the Fourth Circuit discussing some of this history:
> The South was far from wholly reconciled to the abandonment of the system of forced labor that contributed signifi... | [
"Proponents of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution knew that without legislation that codified the 13th Amendment in the form of laws and statutes along with law enforcement agencies to uphold the laws, there would be no true end to slavery, and this is the reason for the inclusion of Section 2 of the 13th Amend... |
In medieval and pre-modern times, political entities made marriage pacts between heirs in order to secure peace. Often times, this didn't last for more than 20 years, if not even less. Why did they even bother? | Twenty years of peace is much better than no peace at all. Twenty years is enough time for a generation of young men to forgo military service, time to build infrastructure, time to consolidate power, and time grow a treasury.
There are also plenty of examples of peaces that last longer than twenty years, or even res... | [
"Regionally and across the time span of the Middle Ages, marriage could be formed differently. Marriage could be proclaimed in secret by the mutually consenting couple, or arranged between families as long as the man and woman were not forced and consented freely; but by the 12th century in western canon law, conse... |
What happened to German and Italian volunteers in the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War after they were disbanded in 1938? | I gave a relatively brief answer to this [here](_URL_0_), focusing more on the Germans (for whom I had a relevant source handy). If I get the chance later today, I'll try and expand on it! | [
"The Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, known as Spanish fighters (, , / \"Španski borci\") and Yugoslav brigadistas (), was a contingent of volunteers from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that fought beside the Republican side (in support of the Second Spanish Republic) in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). An ... |
What (if anything) did Native Americans think lay beyond the Pacific and Atlantic oceans? | The desert people of the American Southwest generally understood the concept of oceans as not being fundamentally different from a large lake or stream. Among the [recorded] creation myths of the O'odham peoples, at least two contain gods or demigods turning small rivers into vast oceans, splitting apart the original p... | [
"The Pacific recognized: Europeans knew that there was a vast ocean to the west, and the Chinese knew that there was one to the east. Learned Europeans thought that the world was round and that the two oceans were one. In 1492 Columbus sailed west to what he thought was Asia. When Pedro Álvares Cabral, en route to ... |
Is it possible that in the distant future, an organism that exists right now on Earth, will evolve to the point that it can be considered intelligent life? Which animal comes the closest? | > Is it possible that in the distant future, an organism that exists right now on Earth, will evolve to the point that it can be considered intelligent life?
Yes, it's possible, but by no means is it a sure thing. Evolution doesn't have a goal in mind, nor does it have specific end points that are inherently better ... | [
"It is possible that even if complex life is common, intelligence (and consequently civilizations) is not. While there are remote sensing techniques that could perhaps detect life-bearing planets without relying on the signs of technology, none of them has any ability to tell if any detected life is intelligent. Th... |
How much can you learn from someone's genome? | Well this is fun, we literally just covered this kind of stuff in my advanced molecular biology course.
Your genome will contain variation depending on genetics that has been passed down from your parents. You may be homozygous for 11 copies of a short-tandem repeat (STR, 2-3 'letters' repeated over and over again in... | [
"Over the course of the next three years, scientists at the Sanger Institute, BGI Shenzhen and the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Large-Scale Sequencing Network are planning to sequence a minimum of 1,000 human genomes. Due to the large amount of sequence data that need to be generated and analyzed it i... |
why are hispanics included as whites in statistical polls instead of being considered their own independent demographic like blacks or native americans? | Hispanic is not a race. It's an ethnicity. There are white Hispanics, black Hispanics, Native American Hispanics, and even Asian Hispanics.
| [
"In January 2016, CUNY sociologist Richard Alba wrote an article in the American Prospect arguing that the way in which majority-minority calculations are made by the Census are misleading. Anyone with any Hispanic, Asian, or Black ancestry is seen as non-white, even if they also have white ancestry. Alba argues th... |
what causes "flashing lights", or blurry vision after strenuous physical activity? | **NOTE**: I am not a medical doctor, and this is not a diagnosis; just the best attempt I can at explaining it.
It's likely caused by the gel inside of his eyes rubbing on or pulling at the retina. If he stood up after a car ride, it can cause a change in blood pressure as well, which would lead to less oxygen going t... | [
"In some epileptics, flickering or flashing lights, such as strobe lights, can be responsible for the onset of a tonic clonic, absence, or myoclonic seizure. This condition is known as photosensitive epilepsy and, in some cases, the seizures can be triggered by activities that are harmless to others, such as watchi... |
if an ambulance on its way to a call witnesses an accident, what do they do? | It depends on the severity of the accident compared to the severity of the call they're en route to. If they see a horrible car wreck, and they're on a call for a broken bone, they'll stop for the wreck and radio in to let the dispatcher know to send out a new ambulance for the initial call. However, if they were on ... | [
"The refusal of medical assistance, or RMA, ensures the continuum of care that ambulance squads have a responsibility towards. In a typical emergency call, the ambulance service will assess and transport the patient to an appropriate facility. The ambulance squad's duty towards the patient begins with patient conta... |
how do i know that i don't have depth perception? | Sure, if you've never experienced true binocularity (brain fusing each eye's image into one that is 3D), you might not realize you don't have it. It's possible to develop that skill so long as both eyes are physically intact and functional and so is your brain. Neuroscience ftw!
A book that discusses this is "Stereo ... | [
"Depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions (3D) and the distance of an object. Depth sensation is the corresponding term for animals, since although it is known that animals can sense the distance of an object (because of their ability to move accurately, or to respond consist... |
since oil & water don't mix, how are essential oil soaks helpful? | As far as I know there is no scientific proof that essential oils work anyway, but yes your skin can only absorb so much. | [
"Due to differences in physical properties, oil does not readily mix with water. Many food and non-food systems require stabilization of mixtures of oil and water in order to prevent phase separation. Therefore, additives are used to provide stability. Lactylates are such additives.\n",
"The essential oil is obta... |
if a nuclear bomb is dropped on other nuclear bombs that are idle on the ground, will it create a double explosion or do these weapons need to become 'activated' in order for them to be able to detonate? | Depends on a lot of things.
Nuclear bombs work by changing the critical mass of the nuclear fuel. "Critical mass" is the amount of nuclear material you need to have a sustained nuclear reaction. You can artificially make a smaller-than-critical mass into a critical mass in several ways. One way is to cover it with a m... | [
"Many nuclear detonations have taken place using [[aerial bomb]]s. The [[B-29 Superfortress|B-29]] aircraft that delivered the nuclear weapons at [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] did not lose power from electrical damage, because [[electron]]s (ejected from the air by gamma rays) are stopped quickly in normal air for... |
why do bottles of liquid have a dent/semi circle at the bottom of them? | Its to make the plastic stronger. Without it they would have to add much more plastic to make it stable, which is more expensive. The bottle wouldn't explode, but it would cause the thinner areas to sag and deform. That would increase the chance of it bursting apart when force is applied. But with the divot, that sort ... | [
"Some cans, such as those used for sardines, have a specially scored lid so that the user can break out the metal by the leverage of winding it around a slotted church key. Until the mid-20th century, some sardine tins had solder-attached lids, and the winding key worked by forcing the solder joint apart.\n",
"Th... |
the dow futures is reported to have dropped 700 points already. what does that mean for retirement funds, the market in general, etc...? | What u/Chumkil said but it is unlikely to be a long-lasting drop, the underlying economy is strong and, once the excitement has died down, the markets will return to their original state - i.e. rising.
The BBC were talking about this yesterday, apparently these flash-crashes are more to do with computer algorithm trad... | [
"On October 9, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 14,164.53. Two days later on October 11, the Dow traded at an intra-day level high of 14,198.10, a mark which would not be matched until March 2013. In what would normally take many years to accomplish; numerous reasons were cited for ... |
During the Cold War period, was Able Archer and The Cuban Missle Crisis the peak of tensions? | I would see a distinct difference between "peak of tensions" and "closest we came to a nuclear exchange." The Berlin crisis of 1948 was potentially a higher "peak of tensions" than Able Archer 83, but because the nuclear situation was only one-sided, it is not cited as a "close call." I would not consider Able Archer 8... | [
"After the Cuban Missile Crisis had passed, the Cold War situation kept Fort Stewart in an active training role. During the late 1960s, another developing situation would bring about yet another change in Fort Stewart’s mission. With tensions growing in the divided country of Vietnam, the U.S. found itself becoming... |
what's in artificial food coloring that makes it so toxic to consume? | Food coloring is not considered toxic by most people. From Google:
>
>
> While red dye #2 was subsequently banned from products sold in the United States, many health-conscious consumers continue to avoid foods with other artificial colors or dyes — **even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still... | [
"In response to concerns about the safety of certain food additives, the UK FSA commissioned a study by researchers at Southampton University of the effect of a mixture of six food dyes (Tartrazine, Allura Red, Ponceau 4R, Quinoline Yellow WS, Sunset Yellow and Carmoisine (dubbed the \"Southampton 6\")) and sodium ... |
why does it feel like your stomach drops when your adrenaline kicks in? | It's related to the fight-or-flight response. Your body prioritizes your extremities and blood is drawn away from "non-essentials" such as the digestive system. This leads to that uneasy stomach feeling you get. | [
"During states of excitement or stress, the body releases adrenaline. Adrenaline is known to cause physical symptoms that accompany test anxiety, such as increased heart rate, sweating, and rapid breathing. In many cases having adrenaline is a good thing. It is helpful when dealing with stressful situations, ensuri... |
what happens to someone convicted of a felony that is going to die soon? | There are Hospitals/infirmaries in prisons. They'd likely just spend their final time in there.
Or they might just be put in with the general population if they don't need constant medical care. | [
"If a person committing a predicate felony directly contributed to the death of the victim then the person will be charged with murder in the first degree - felony murder which is a capital felony. The only two sentences available for that statute are life in prison and the death penalty. \n",
"If a person commit... |
Why can a person safely receive platelets donated by anyone, but can only receive a particular type of whole blood? | Platelets don't have antigens (the things antibodies recognize) on them. What might be a good way to remember this is that they're not made from red blood cells where the ABO blood group antigens are, they're shed from cells in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes.
That's not to say platelets are JUST floating bits ... | [
"Most platelet donations are given to patients who are unable to make enough platelets in their bone marrow. For example, patients with leukaemia or other cancers may have too few platelets as the result of their disease or treatment. Also after major surgery or extensive injury, patients may need platelet transfus... |
why don't people get tolerance from orgasms like they do from drugs? | Well you can. Masturbate everyday, and compare it to not masturbating for a month. You do build up a tolerance if you will. It's less intense. | [
"Some forms of sexual dysfunction such as erectile dysfunction can be treated with drugs. Because of their effects, erectile dysfunction drugs are sometimes used for recreational purposes. Many drugs, both legal and illegal, some sold online, have side effects that affect the user's sexual function. Many drugs can ... |
Is the shield wall fighting depicted on the show "Vikings" historically accurate? | Awesome thank you. I checked the FAQ and totally missed it. | [
"The term dates from at least 1000 AD and derives from Old English roots expressing the idea of a \"shield-troop\". Some researchers have also posited this etymological relation may show the schiltron is directly descended from the Anglo-Saxon shield wall, and still others give evidence \"schiltron\" is a name deri... |
what is the difference between inches, millimeters and caliber when talking about guns? | Caliber is a measure of the internal diameter of a gun barrel. Inches are an SAE unit, and millimeters are a metric unit. Either can be used to describe the caliber, based on the manufacturer's preference. | [
"Modern firearms can be described by their caliber (i.e. their bore diameter; this is given in millimeters or inches e.g. 7.5 mm, .357 in.) or in the case of shotguns by their gauge (e.g. 12 ga.); by the type of action employed (muzzleloader, breechloader, lever, bolt, pump, revolver, semi-automatic, fully automati... |
why is hydrogen so common on earth and helium quite rare? | Hydrogen is highly reactive, it bonds to oxygen, forming water. Water is quite dense, even as a vapor, and is therefore quite durable in the atmosphere.
Helium is a noble gas and nearly perfectly inert. Being unbound to any heavier elements, it quickly rises to the top of the atmosphere and is lost to space by various... | [
"The atmospheric proportions of hydrogen and helium are close to the theoretical composition of the primordial solar nebula. Neon in the upper atmosphere only consists of 20 parts per million by mass, which is about a tenth as abundant as in the Sun. Helium is also depleted to about 80% of the Sun's helium composit... |
Why do the Russian scientists have to wait till December to study the water they took from Lake Vostok? (Lake under Antartica) | Vostok Station is one of the most [inhospitable places for humans to work](_URL_0_). December is the Antarctic summer, so the weather will be better, temperatures warmer, and up to 24 hours of daylight. | [
"By plan, the following summer, the team was to drill down again to take a sample of that ice and analyze it. The Russians resumed drilling into the lake in January 2012 and reached the upper surface of the water on 6 February 2012. The researchers allowed the rushing lake water to freeze within the bore hole and m... |
I hear a lot about rape from the Red Army in Berlin during WWII. Did the German army (and SS) rape women too? If so, why isn't it talked about as much? | This topic is very well covered in two Russian books: [this one](_URL_3_), called "For What the Soviet People Were Fighting" and [this one](_URL_2_), called "Unknown Faces of War". The Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in WWII with the overall mindset of creating Lebensraum and the getting rid of most of the local populat... | [
"As Allied troops entered and occupied German territory during the later stages of World War II, mass rapes of women took place both in connection with combat operations and during the subsequent occupation. Most Western scholars agree that the majority of the rapes were committed by Soviet servicemen, while some R... |
Do different types of wood have different specific heats? | Wood in general is a very complicated material. The specific heat of any particular piece of wood is going to be dominated by the amount of water in that wood. So it can vary significantly not only from species to species but also within species according to what treatment, if any, the wood has undergone. | [
"The energy content of a measure of wood depends on the tree species. For example, it can range from per cord. The higher the moisture content, the more energy that must be used to evaporate (boil) the water in the wood before it will burn. Dry wood delivers more energy for heating than green wood of the same speci... |
why is the greek language used in science so much? | Most of what we consider 'Science' was developed in the European university system post-Renaissance. Since such universities were almost always affiliated with the Church, they created a common course of study that included Latin and Greek.
As a result, while scientists in different nations spoke different native lan... | [
"The discussion on the Greek language question began at the end of the 18th century. Because western Europeans were familiar with, and valued, the ancient Greek language, Eugenios Voulgaris, along with Lambros Photiadis, Stephanos Commitas (1770–1832) and Neophytos Doukas, proposed that the modern Greek language sh... |
Just finished watching "12 Years a Slave": Was life for slaves in the southern U.S. during the 1800's really as bad as these movies depict? What was the average life like for an average slave on an average plantation? | > but people don't beat their horses to within one inch of their life.
Of course they do.
In the 1930s the WPA interviewed more than 2000 slaves, who describe their treatment in detail. These are available [online](_URL_1_). [Here](_URL_0_) is a selection with brief descriptions of their contents. The first li... | [
"On November 4, 2013, Cohen published a column about the film \"12 Years a Slave\", in which he wrote: \"Instead, beginning with school, I got a gauzy version. I learned that slavery was wrong, yes, that it was evil, no doubt, but really, that many blacks were sort of content. Slave owners were mostly nice people —... |
why does sunset time sometimes decrease or increase by 2 minutes instead of 1? | Daylight time changes vary by latitude; in July the North pole experiences 24 hours of daylight while in December it experiences 0, so there must be a change of at least 24 hours daylight time in 180 days, which turns out to average about 8 minutes a day change. At the equator no change is perceived at all (0 minutes ... | [
"The time of sunset varies throughout the year, and is determined by the viewer's position on Earth, specified by longitude and latitude, and elevation. Small daily changes and noticeable semi-annual changes in the timing of sunsets are driven by the axial tilt of Earth, daily rotation of the Earth, the planet's mo... |
why do humans have fetishes and animals appear to do not? | Depends on what you call a fetish.
Male goats have been shown to like pee play and seeing female goats simulate sex. | [
"This may be greatly affected by masculine people being less inhibited by social norms for expressing their desire, being more aware of their sexual desire or succumbing to the expectation of their gender culture. When feminine people employ tactics to show their sexual desire, they are typically more indirect in n... |
Can you transmit the flu through semen? What about sweat? | It is primarily an infection involving the upper respiratory tract. The virus is primarily shed through coughing/sneezing. The likelihood of semen or sweat containing the virus is low and unless those fluids are inhaled it wouldn't cause an infection. | [
"Semen can transmit many sexually transmitted diseases and pathogens, including viruses like HIV and Ebola. Swallowing semen carries no additional risk other than those inherent in fellatio. This includes transmission risk for sexually transmitted diseases such as human papillomavirus (HPV) or herpes, especially fo... |
Why are pipe organs used to play songs or jingles at hockey games? | For the same reason that they're used (or used to be used) at baseball games: volume. Even a small hockey stadium is a huge place, filled with screaming fans, and the pipe organ has the oomph to be heard in that environment.
Nowadays, most use "electronic pipe organs." The one in Chicago's United Center, for example... | [
"A pitch pipe is a small device used to provide a pitch reference for musicians without absolute pitch. Although it may be described as a musical instrument, it is not typically used to play music as such. Technically, it is a harmonica; however, it lacks many characteristics of harmonicas.\n",
"It is played by b... |
What was the Roman Empire's opinion of the crusades, and how did they feel about the outcomes? | I'm not well versed on their reaction to all of the Crusades, but their opinion of the First Crusade was initially very positive. Emperor Alexius had extracted oaths of loyalty from the prominent Crusader leaders, and promises to restore reconquered territory in Anatolia to the Romans, and this is what happened initial... | [
"Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders were not exclusive to the fourth crusade nor the Mediterranean. The sacking of Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom, the destruction of the Monastery of Stoudios, Library of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire in Const... |
how are you assigned to classes in college? | You'll talk to an advisor who will give you a schedule based on the program you are enrolling in. | [
"Online courses are typically divided into units of class discussions (ongoing posts of classmate queries and comments), downloadable assignments and quizzes. What students are actually graded on is based on the course and the professor, however, class participation is usually required in the form of threaded discu... |
why does throwing an extremely light object, for example a golf ball, strain the arm as opposed to a baseball that is relative in mass? | The same reason you should never dry fire a bow (shooting a bow without an arrow in place). If there is no arrow to transfer the energy of the pulled bowstring, all of that energy will go into the bow itself and can damage or shatter the bow.
Your arm functions the same way as a bow: transfering energy into the ball (... | [
"Further refinements to the motion of the ball can be made by taking into account air resistance (and related effects such as drag and wind), the Magnus effect, and buoyancy. Because lighter balls accelerate more readily, their motion tends to be affected more by such forces.\n",
"The swing weight of a baseball b... |
Why is there so much Carbon-14 in these fossils? | There's a lot of crap on that page.
First, carbon dating doesn't work for things like dinosaur fossils. They're too old.
The number 22,380 has no reference next to it so I'm not sure which reference at the bottom they're referring to.
The premise of the article is that in 2005 a fossil was dated to 20-30k years. N... | [
"Carbon-14 (C) is a naturally occurring radioisotope, created in the upper atmosphere (lower stratosphere and upper troposphere) by interaction of nitrogen with cosmic rays. It is found in trace amounts on Earth of 1 part per trillion (0.0000000001%) or more, mostly confined to the atmosphere and superficial deposi... |
As the needle approaches the centre of a record, its speed increases, right? Are the grooves cut differently towards the middle of a record to account for this? | The grooves aren't intentionally cut differently, but the wavelength representation is longer near the edge compared to the center because the speed of the track increases from the center to the edge. Since the grooves are cut directly into the recording material, no external adjustment is necessary, since it's always ... | [
"Examining a vertically-cut groove along its length reveals a continuous wavy line as the needle cuts at different depths according to the tone and the loudness of the audio being recorded. These grooves show a transition from high to low peak as a smooth curve, giving the characteristic rounded 'hill and dale' eff... |
How was the East India Company able to maintain rule over the massive subcontinent for over 100 years? Was it stable? Was it more than a loose administration? How much indigenous resistance was there? Did this change under direct British rule? | While there were a numerous way in which the English East India company were able to maintain control over their massive Indian territory , I will cover some important ways in which they exerted control :
#**Part 1**
#**Control over the rulers**
One of the important pillars of power of company support were a loyal c... | [
"The East India Company was one of the most powerful and enduring organisations in history and had a long lasting impact on the Indian Subcontinent, with both positive and harmful effects. Although dissolved by the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873 following the rebellion of 1857, it stimulated the grow... |
In a chemical reaction, if the product has a lower energy than the reactant, why doesn't all reactant convert to product? | Reactions have an [activation energy](_URL_0_) associated that acts as a barrier from all reactants rapidly and spontaneously turning into products. That is, there requires some extra energy put into the reaction before it can proceed. Commonly this is heat energy - hence reactions occurring faster at higher temperatur... | [
"If the products are higher in chemical energy than the reactants then the reaction will require energy to be performed and is therefore an endergonic reaction. Additionally if the product is less stable than a reactant, then Leffler's assumption holds that the transition state will more closely resemble the produc... |
Why is there such a thing as "critical mass" for a radioactive material? Why couldn't the chain reaction sustain itself with less mass than the critical amount? How is this mass calculated? | Fission results in the release of 2 to 3 free neutrons. To sustain a critical chain reaction, on average, one of these neutrons should be captured by a fissile nucleus and cause it to fission.
So what you need to understand is the parameters that affect how likely it is for a free neutron to be captured in this way.
... | [
"A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, the nuclear fission cross-section), its density, its shape, its enrichment, its purity, its temperature, and its s... |
how do hackers hack a web cam? | > How do hackers hack a web cam?
Bugs. A lot of software is insecure. Not all. A standalone webcamera is an "Internet of Things" device. Oh god, there are so many poorly secured IoT devices.
> And is it possible for them to record without the indicator light turning on?
Depends. If the light is hardwired to the... | [
"Camfecting, in the field of computer security, is the process of attempting to hack into a person's webcam and activate it without the webcam owner's permission. The remotely activated webcam can be used to watch anything within the webcam's field of vision, sometimes including the webcam owner themselves. Camfect... |
Do Historians studying Colonial America *need* to be fluent in Native American Languages? | Probably not. Many of the indigenous languages at that point were only spoken languages and were not written, which is why you aren't finding many, if any, sources in an indigenous language. You should be fine if you focus on one of the European languages (French or Spanish if you are studying an area colonized by th... | [
"Lisa Brooks is an historian, writer, and professor of English and American studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts where she specializes in the history of Native American and European interactions from the American colonial period to the present.\n",
"Alden T. Vaughan (born 1929) is an American historian, ha... |
Will Solar Energy Ever Surpass the Efficiency of Fossil Fuels and Will it be a Viable Source of Energy for the Future? | You're comparing apples to oranges. You can't/shouldn't compare efficiency across different methods of extracting energy. What you should care about is dollar pr watt hour. | [
"BULLET::::- To realistically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels as a source of power, we have to utilize clean sources of energy. Solar energy is a sustainable source of energy with incredible potential for expansion and opportunity to develop on both the individual level and the commercial scale.\n",
"In 2011,... |
why do marathoners and triathletes tend to have small body frames? | Most body frames (skeletons) are very similar, and most "shape" comes from fat or muscle on those bones.
The heavier you are, the more work you have to do. It's easier to move 150 pounds 100 feet than 200 pounds 100 feet.
Running results in injury to heavier people more often. Joints stand up better to 150 pounds c... | [
"Athletes in this class who good trunk control and mobility have an advantage over athletes in the same class who have less functional trunk control and mobility. This functional difference can cause different performance results within the same class, with discus throwers with more control in a class able to throw... |
How is the primality of extremely large numbers tested/proven? | There are fast primality tests: _URL_0_. These tests aren't easy to understand, and we only proved that they are "fast" (polynomial time in the number of digits) recently. Historically, we used imperfect algorithms that basically just tell you that a number is "not prime" or "almost certainly prime."
If your goal is... | [
"Although this method is simple to describe, it is impractical for testing the primality of large integers, because the number of tests that it performs grows exponentially as a function of the number of digits of these integers. However, trial division is still used, with a smaller limit than the square root on th... |
Is MDMA really harmless? | One of the problems you'll note when reviewing literature on MDMA is the recent influx of research on MDMA assisted psychotherapy. This research tends to be biased towards showing the safety of the substance, and it's making it harder and harder for unbiased research to make clear conclusions about MDMA. It might be p... | [
"MDAI and other similar drugs have been widely used in scientific research, as they are able to replicate many of the effects of MDMA, but without causing the neurotoxicity which may be associated with MDMA and some related drugs. No tests have been performed on cardiovascular toxicity.\n",
"MDMA is illegal in mo... |
what is economic contagion? | Most business and currency is based on confidence and belief.
Belief that things will largely be worth tomorrow, what they are today.
Confidence that the systems and structures that are useful and effective today, will remain so for the indefinite future.
With these ideas, you can plan on a micro-level how to allo... | [
"\"Fundamental causes of contagion include macroeconomic shocks that have repercussions on an international scale and local shocks transmitted through trade links, competitive devaluations, and financial links.\" It can lead to some co-movements in capital flows and asset prices.Common shocks can be similar to the ... |
Why is there such a hard cut-off in the glacial lakes in Canada and northern US? | It has to do with comparing the previously glaciated terrane with areas which were not (or minimally) glaciated. The lake-rich northern terranes are underlain by glacial sediments. These typically include large proportions of poorly sorted material (such as till) as well as glacio-lacustrine clays, both of which give r... | [
"As recently as the last glacial maximum about 30,000 years ago, the majority of northern Canada was buried under the enormous continental Laurentide ice sheet. The tremendous erosive powers of the Laurentide and its predecessors, at maximum extent, completely buried what is now the Mackenzie watershed under thousa... |
How can fish swim their entire lives? | How do you breath all your life? Your diaphragm muscles must surely tire of pulling air in all the time, if you spend all your life breathing. Or your heart, which pumps blood nonstop your whole life.
Some muscles don't tire because they can't. They're too important. | [
"Fish live in Fresh or Saltwater habitats and some exceptions are capable of coming on land (Mudskippers). Most fish have a line of muscle blocks, called myomeres, along each side of the body. To swim, they alternately contract one side and relax the other side in a progression which goes from the head to the tail.... |
What role did pike phalanxes play in late 16th and 17th century warfare? | By the time period in question, the pike blocks [(*not* phalanxes)](_URL_0_) have taken further and further secondary roles to shot/firearm troops.
In the early 16th century, the shot troops are there to support friendly pike blocks and harass enemy pike blocks when contact is made. By the 17th century the proportion... | [
"The pike square dominated European battlefields and influenced the development of tactics well into the 17th century. Even when muskets became common, their slow rate of fire meant that soldiers armed with them were vulnerable to cavalry; to combat this, some soldiers continued to carry pikes until the improving p... |
how someone like marvel can copyright something like thor and loki? | They can't. What they can do is copyright their portrayal of them, so if you write a story or draw cartoons about one of them which is so close as to be mistaken by the man in the street for their version, then they'll jump on you.
Of course, they might well try anyway, which is enough to put many people off - which i... | [
"Loki is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber and penciller Jack Kirby, a version of the character first appeared in \"Venus\" #6 (August 1949). The modern day incarnation of Loki first appeared in \"Journey into Myster... |
appears to be water on the road ahead. | It's a mirage.
_URL_0_ | [
"In April 2007, artist Henk Hofstra painted a road in Drachten blue with white lettering and traffic markings. The road is called Moleneind. The lettering spells \"Water is Leven\" (Water is Life), meant to symbolize a prior waterway that was paved over.\n",
"A road running below the water level of a stream or ri... |
If deaf people put their fingers against the diaphragm on a speaker, could they "feel" the music? | Deaf people actually dance to music. Anyone can feel the music, especially if it is very bass heavy, without touching a speaker.
One of the best concerts I've been to had an amazing sound engineer and you could feel everything. | [
"Articulation disorders may be attributed to a variety of causes. A child with hearing loss may not be able to hear certain phonemes pronounced at certain frequencies, or hear the error in their own production of sounds. Oral-motor problems may also be at fault, such as \"developmental verbal dyspraxia\" (a problem... |
why do only some animals have recreational sex, while other animals only have sex purely with the intent of reproduction? | It has mostly to do with the mating behaviors of specific animals. If we're talking about higher vertebrates (mammals, birds), lots of animals will engage in coitus if given the opportunity, presumably because it feels good and/or they have a strong natural instinct to do so. However, not all animals have the opportuni... | [
"It is often assumed that animals do not have sex for pleasure, or alternatively that humans, pigs, bonobos (and perhaps dolphins and one or two more species of primates) are the only species that do. This is sometimes stated as \"animals mate only for reproduction\". This view is considered a misconception by some... |
Is it really possible to colonize other planets considering the laws of special/general relativity? | It's not as crazy as you imagine. The entirety of human civilization is a small place today, it takes mere hours (or sometimes minutes) to travel to the other side of the planet, and it takes mere milliseconds for messages to travel around the world. But it wasn't always that way. For much of human history it took year... | [
"The primary argument calling for space colonization is the long-term survival of human civilization. By developing alternative locations off Earth, the planet's species, including humans, could live on in the event of natural or man-made disasters on our own planet.\n",
"Based on his Copernican principle, J. Ric... |
why don’t all phone services send texts over the internet (like apple’s imessage does)? | The short answer is that they don't because they didn't originally.
*Short Message Service*-messages, as they are called in the GSM standard among other more recent standards, is a technical feature offered in the communication protocol used to communicate to and from the phones.
Internet traffic relies on one or sev... | [
"As of 2017, text messages are used by youth and adults for personal, family, business and social purposes. Governmental and non-governmental organizations use text messaging for communication between colleagues. In the 2010s, the sending of short informal messages has become an accepted part of many cultures, as h... |
Did fighting cease at night during the Battle of Stalingrad, or did soldiers fight 24 hours a day? | In reading just now excerts from "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 By Antony Beevor", Its talks of how Chuikov had ordered an emphasis on night raids because the Luftwaffe could not respond and that he was convinced it struck fear into the Germans. It talks about the use of flares to constantly trick soldiers i... | [
"Most of the fighting occurred at night, under heavy mortar fire, while the daylight hours were usually spent by the UN forces evacuating the dead and wounded, replacing the defending company, sending up resupplies and repairing the fortified positions. The daylight hours were punctuated with artillery, mortar and ... |
Why does water form the shape it does when poured? | The shape is dependent on a lot of things. Some are properties of the water itself like viscosity, density, and surface tension. Some are properties of the environment like gravity, density/viscosity of the air you are pouring into. Some are properties of the way you actually pour the water like the shape of the contai... | [
"Surface tension is responsible for the shape of liquid droplets. Although easily deformed, droplets of water tend to be pulled into a spherical shape by the imbalance in cohesive forces of the surface layer. In the absence of other forces, including gravity, drops of virtually all liquids would be approximately sp... |
If island chains like Hawai'i were formed by the continuous movement of a plate over a magma plume in the mantle, why do they take the form of separate islands rather than a continuous ridge? | To form a continuous line, you would have to assume that magma plumbing is continuous; that is that you apply magma at the base of the crust at position x and it comes out at y above, apply at x+1 and it will come out at y+1. That is not the case.
Magma plumbing is highly discontinuous; magma will preferentially propa... | [
"The volcanic islands that comprise these island arcs are thought to have been formed from the release of volatiles (steam from trapped water, and other gases) being released from the subducted plate, as it reached sufficient depth for the temperature to cause release of these materials. The associated trenches are... |
why do brownie corners taste better than brownie centers? | Brownie center lovers are going to debate you on this, but the reason is because the brownie edges simply taste different due to a process called a [maillard reaction](_URL_0_). | [
"Various types of openings and projections give a square character and variety. Doors, windows, and balconies opening into the square give it character while making it more accessible, thus encouraging its use for recreation. The squares therefore are vibrant places with a wide variety of colours. \n",
"Salty liq... |
what is the difference between gdp and ppp? | GDP is the gross domestic product, the total output of the entire nation's industries and workers. Sometimes they list this as "GDP per capita" which means how much each person would contribute to that total if it were divided equally.
PPP is purchasing power parity, it's a determination of how much one person could b... | [
"GDP comparisons using PPP are arguably more useful than those using nominal GDP when assessing a nation's domestic market because PPP takes into account the relative cost of local goods, services and inflation rates of the country, rather than using international market exchange rates which may distort the real di... |
In curling, how do sweepers influence the path of the rock? | The ice has little bumps on it. Sweeping away the bumps to smooth the ice allows the stone to speed up on the left or right side therefore making essentially different drag on the left or right causing it to turn. | [
"The player can induce a curved path, described as \"curl\", by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides. The path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms, who accompany it as it slides down the sheet and sweep the ice in front of the stone. \"Sweeping a rock\" decreases the friction,... |
why do stores, businesses, buildings play music? | i don't know about other buildings, but i know that grocery stores will play slow music because you slow down while browsing the aisles with slow music, thus giving you a higher chance to buy something. | [
"In the 2010s, music stores can be \"bricks and mortar\" stores (either individual small businesses or chain stores, which may be a regional or national chain); online musical instrument stores, which consist of a website describing the merchandise, various online payment systems, and shipping or delivery systems; ... |
Homophobic slurs in turn-of-the-century/WWI Britain? | *Sodomite* and its variants were certainly in use at that time in Britain. The Marquis of Queensberry left a calling card at Oscar Wilde's London club in February of 1895 that was addressed "To Mr. Oscar Wilde, posing as a somdomist" (sic). His handwriting was so poor that some have suggested that the card was actually... | [
"The earliest recorded occurrence of the slur seems to be in the \"Time\" magazine of 5 January 1942 where \"three Nip pilots\" was mentioned. The American, British, and Australian entry of the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II heightened the use of racial slurs against the Japanese, such as \"Jap\" and \"Nip\"... |
why does food microwaved in commercial kitchens turn out much better than what someone can do at home? | It actually has nothing to do with the tech. You use normal microwaves in a commercial kitchen - it's entirely up to the quality of the food. Your meal would have been prepared that day (or immediately - not everything is nuked!) by someone who knows what they're doing, with OTHER expensive tech. The reason microwave m... | [
"Microwave ovens are a common kitchen appliance and are popular for reheating previously cooked foods and cooking a variety of foods. They are also useful for rapid heating of otherwise slowly prepared foodstuffs, which can easily burn or turn lumpy when cooked in conventional pans, such as hot butter, fats, chocol... |
with plea bargaining, why is it not acceptable to pressure someone to forego their right to a lawyer for a better sentence, but it is acceptable to pressure someone into foregoing their right to a trial? | Because the lawyer can tell you what are and are not reasonable offers, and not having the lawyer present will never benefit the suspect. Forgoing a trial benefits both the justice system by avoiding a timely, costly, and pointless procedure (assuming there's clear evidence of guilt), while the suspect can benefit by r... | [
"Some legal scholars argue that plea bargaining is unconstitutional because it takes away a person's right to a trial by jury. Justice Hugo Black once noted that, in America, the defendant \"has an absolute, unqualified right to compel the State to investigate its own case, find its own witnesses, prove its own fac... |
so i've been wondering, if the ocean water gets affected by the full moon, does human also get affected (maybe just the slightest) since we are consisted of water? | Yes you are, not because you're made of water because you have a mass in general. So if you weight yourself on a super precise scale when the moon is straight up in the sky you will be (slightly) lighter than if you weight yourself when the moon is on the opposite position. But that effect is soooo insignificant that y... | [
"Believers in the lunar theory suggest several different mechanisms by which the behaviour of the Moon could influence the behaviour of human beings. A common suggestion is that, since the Moon affects large bodies of water such as the ocean (a phenomenon known as \"tidal force\"), the Moon should be expected to ha... |
How big were vegetables 2,000 years ago? | I can give only one example and that is of corn and the domestication was much earlier then 2000 years ago. It was first domesticated in Southern mexico by 4000 to 3000 B.C.E.. The ancestor of corn was a mountain grass called teosinte. It does not look like modern corn. Thousands of years of selective adaptation we... | [
"Originally, vegetables were collected from the wild by hunter-gatherers and entered cultivation in several parts of the world, probably during the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC, when a new agricultural way of life developed. At first, plants which grew locally would have been cultivated, but as time went on, trade ... |
Was the fear of communists in the US mostly about the military threat, or the fear of the idea and it leading to a revolution from within? | There were many periods of anti-communist sentiment in the United States, each having its own set of domestic and international issues. Many consider the 1930s to be the "heyday" of American Communism (see [Harvey Klehr's book](_URL_0_)) because that's when the US was closest to revolution (due to the 1929 stock market... | [
"As U.S. relations with the Soviet Union rapidly deteriorated following World War II, there were accompanying concerns about government infiltration by communists. As the U.S. fell from being wartime allies to staunch adversaries with the USSR, American obsession with perceived dangers associated with the Soviet Un... |
Did medieval cities have street names?/ How did people in urban areas tell each other where they lived? | hi! feedback on street naming in medieval Europe is welcome, but meanwhile, you might be interested in a couple of posts that discuss other times/places without street names, to get an idea of how it works:
[Did streets in Rome use street numbers during the Republic and/or Empire period?](_URL_1_)
[Why does Tokyo hav... | [
"It was normal practice for medieval street names to reflect their function, or the economic activity taking place within them (especially the commodities available for sale), hence the frequency of names such as The Shambles, Silver Street, Fish Street, and Swinegate (pork butchers) in cities with a medieval histo... |
In Classical-age Europe, how pervasive was the ability to speak Greek? | The flaw in your premise is asking about Europe, when your question is about Judea.
Pretty much west of the Balkans, Latin was the dominant language of the Roman empire, though Greek was very prevalent among educated Romans and among the upper classes diglossia (switching between two languages to talk about different ... | [
"Popular Western opinion is reflected in the \"Translatio militiae\", whose anonymous Latin author states that the Greeks had lost their courage and their learning, and therefore did not join in the war against the infidels. In another passage, the ancient Greeks are praised for their military skill and their learn... |
when watching shows set in earlier centuries, the "lords" or "estate owners" always seem to be lounging all day or attending balls. where was their wealth coming from that they didn't have to work at all? | First off, don't trust TV. As far as the income of nobles in those days it came from 2 sources. 1)They owned a lot of land and got the profits of the production of that land. 2) They were the government back then, and taxes were paid to them.
As far as what they did all day generally they held court where they heard ... | [
"Despite popular perception, a small estate owner often led a boring and primitive life. The owner had few pursuits to distract him besides maintaining relationships with neighbors, religious and family obligations, and hunting, all of which made for a dull existence in the interim. Palaces did not feature privies ... |
why does everything seem to be so much smaller than it was millions of years ago? | We do have the blue whale which is the largest animal on record, but yes we are at a low point in terms of huge animals, especially land animals. If you're comparing us to the various giant dinosaurs it's worth remembering that they existed over a period of almost 200 million years and we tend to remember the highlight... | [
"BULLET::::- The largest structures in the universe are larger than expected. Current cosmological models say there should be very little structure on scales larger than a few hundred million light years across, due to the expansion of the universe trumping the effect of gravity. But the Sloan Great Wall is 1.38 bi... |
What would be the critical mass a black hole would need to be to consume our planet? | Here is my first stab at an answer. As I note below I don't think it's the right answer, but it should give you an idea of how we might go about calculating this.
The power a black hole puts out from [Hawking radiation](_URL_0_) is inversely proportional to its mass squared. For my simple calculation, I'll take the ... | [
"BULLET::::- In \"The Singularity is Near\", Ray Kurzweil cites the calculations of Seth Lloyd that a universal-scale computer is capable of 10 operations per second. The mass of the universe can be estimated at 3 × 10 kilograms. If all matter in the universe was turned into a black hole it would have a lifetime of... |
Weird question. Does a wine drunk have a different effect on your emotions? [neuroscience]? | The different effect of different alcohols have to do with the social situations they are consumed in. I people drank wine at frat parties and spring break they would associate wine with the behavior that is currently associated with tequila. | [
"Wine contains ethyl alcohol, the same chemical that is present in beer and distilled spirits and as such, wine consumption has short-term psychological and physiological effects on the user. Different concentrations of alcohol in the human body have different effects on a person. The effects of alcohol depend on t... |
/r/shitredditsays. i don't get that subreddit. can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on there? | They read the Wiki for [Poe's Law](_URL_0_), then cranked the retard full blast and created a subreddit to record the progress.
The experiment is ongoing. | [
"The site frequently focuses on trending topics, with the few articles created by users of the site mostly being about sensational topics such as YouTubers, memes, activists, white supremacists, and police shooting victims. The site has been criticized for initially presenting false information in wiki pages on bre... |
I have a few questions regarding colonial-era naval battles. | The image which you attach is of the battle between the USS Wasp and HMS Reindeer in the War of 1812.
Like most naval battles, this was fought near land (in the approaches to the English Channel) rather than in the middle of the sea. It is hard to find enemy ships (or fleets) in the vast reaches of the open sea, so m... | [
"On March 25, 1655, during the English Civil War, (1642-1651), in Europe, the Battle of the Severn, the first naval colonial battle ever fought in America was fought in Anne Arundel County on the Severn River between Puritan forces supporting the Commonwealth of England and forces loyal to the Lord Proprietor, Ceci... |
what's the big deal about the leicester city soccer team? | Leicester City were promoted to the EPL in 2014. They've generally been considered a lesser team, having been relegated several times and rarely have competed with the more established teams of the EPL.
Also, the EPL has traditionally been dominated by the likes of the big spending clubs such as Manchester United, Man... | [
"Leicester City qualified for the group stage of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League by winning the 2015–16 Premier League. It was their first participation in this competition. As champions of England, the club was in Pot 1 for the group stage draw.\n",
"Leicester City (Division One play-off winners in 1994 and 19... |
Can you make electricity from radio waves? | Antennas are devices that turn radio waves into electrical power (or vice versa). It is possible to harvest energy from ambient electromagnetic radiation, but the amount of power you get is fairly low, usually on the order of a few milliwatts, which can be used to power small electrical devices. | [
"Power might also be transmitted by changing electromagnetic fields or by radio waves; microwave energy may be carried efficiently over short distances by a waveguide or in free space via wireless power transfer.\n",
"Thus, the work of many researchers enabled the use of electronics to convert signals into high f... |
How did people "optimise" crops for better yields in ancient civilizations or in the middle ages? | Interestingly enough, this question coincides with “How was the cow domesticated?”
A little bit of context, the cow (aurochs) before domestication was an absolute brute. They were violent beasts much larger than humans and much larger than the modern cow. So how the heck did it get domesticated???
Well humans didn’t ... | [
"Columella's \"Husbandry,\" circa 60 CE, advocated the use of lime and that clover and alfalfa (green manure) should be turned under, and was used by 15 generations (450 years) under the Roman Empire until its collapse. From the fall of Rome to the French Revolution, knowledge of soil and agriculture was passed on ... |
Physical interpretation of impedance | Let's consider an RC circuit, with a sinusoidal current. As current flows in one direction, charge will be accumulating on the "front" side of the capacitor, while when current flows in the opposite direction, charge will flow off the "front" and onto the "back" side of the capacitor. Let's call the first direction p... | [
"Impedance is the opposition by a system to the flow of energy from a source. For constant signals, this impedance can also be constant. For varying signals, it usually changes with frequency. The energy involved can be electrical, mechanical, acoustic, magnetic, or thermal. The concept of electrical impedance is p... |
how did marijuana suddenly become legal in 3 states? why is there such a sudden change in sentiment? | I wouldn't say that it's been a "sudden" change in sentiment. The legalization movement had been gaining traction for quite a while.
Two big tipping points, however, are probably due to 1) the growing realization that the *War on Drugs* has been one colossal—and expensive—failure, and 2) the nuanced view the Medical ... | [
"Some studies show that the increased legalization of cannabis in the United States (beginning in 2012 with Washington Initiative 502 and Colorado Amendment 64) has led Mexican cartels to smuggle less cannabis in exchange for more heroin.\n",
"Cannabis began to attract renewed interest as medicine in the 1970s an... |
how do plants avoid pollinating themselves? | There are multiple techniques to avoid this.
The first one that comes to mind is only activating one gamete at a time. A plant may choose to do it in 6 month cycles, say 6 months of pollen release with stigma closed and then 6 months of stigma open with pollen not being released (in actual fact the time will probably... | [
"Few plants self-pollinate without the aid of pollen vectors (such as wind or insects). The mechanism is seen most often in some legumes such as peanuts. In another legume, soybeans, the flowers open and remain receptive to insect cross pollination during the day. If this is not accomplished, the flowers self-polli... |
how come some liquids(like milk) can be held in paper cartons, and some can not(like toothpaste)? | Toothpaste isn't a liquid. It's a paste. And the easiest way to dispense a thicker substance like that is in a tube you can squeeze. Also, nobody needs a 1L carton of toothpaste. | [
"Cartons for liquids can be fabricated from laminates of liquid packaging board, foil, and polyethylene. Most are based on either Tetra Pak or SIG Combibloc systems. One option is to have the printed laminate supplied on a roll. The carton is cut, scored, and formed at the packager. A second option is to have the p... |
why dont metals compound with each other | I can answer this and I made an account because I really wanted to answer this!
I'm a metallurgists, basically a metals engineer and I work at a steel factory. Metals are unique in that they don't make up what people think of as "normal" compounds. But they do make substances with other metals. A lot of people think t... | [
"When it was realized that some metals form two different binary compounds with the same nonmetal, the two compounds were often distinguished by using the ending \"-ic\" for the higher metal oxidation state and the ending \"-ous\" for the lower. For example, FeCl is ferric chloride and FeCl is ferrous chloride. Thi... |
how does face paint, such as that used by quarterbacks, help block the sun? | It doesn't exactly "block" anything.
What it does is it darkens the reflection of light off your own face into your eyes. If you're looking into sunlight, the brightness of your own cheekbones below your eyes causes glare that can be distracting. It sounds absurd, "glare off my own face? Wtf", until you actually tr... | [
"Mike Silver of NFL.com reported that on the morning of game day, officials discovered the logos at midfield and in the end zones had been painted using paint which was not intended for use on the newly installed FieldTurf. Subsequently, the paint had not fully dried, and officials heated the field to speed up the ... |
Can someone describe with good detail how exactly the sacking of a major city by Roman troops would occur? | This is a pretty broad question and there is no hard and fast rule for every aspect of your question. One of the chief concerns for a Roman soldier was booty, particularly during the Republican when such booty would make up the majority of their pay during their soldierly career. The types of deprivations inflicted upo... | [
"BULLET::::- December 17 – Sack of Rome: After almost a year's siege, the capture of a grain fleet sent by the exiled Pope Vigilius near the mouth of the Tiber, and failure of troops of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius to relieve the city, the Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome and destroy its fortifica... |
why does it feel good to soak in a hot tub or a hot bath when we are sore? | The heat relaxes your muscles. When you're sore your muscles are cramped, stiff and or sensitive. The heat counteracts those symptoms. Often you don't even realize that some of your muscles are cramped until you take a bath.
I found this really nice article about it; [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) | [
"Showers or compresses using hot (but not scalding) water can relieve itching for up to several hours, though this \"also taxes the skin's integrity, opening pores and generally making it more vulnerable\", and is only useful for secondary treatment (not for cleaning urushiol from the skin, which should be done wit... |
why does the usa allow harmful chemicals, preservatives, and dyes in our food (and health care products) which are otherwise banned in other countries? | It has not been proven that they present a serious risk or serious harm. Other countries have different standards. | [
"Certain product ingredients are prohibited under Chapter IV of EC 1223/2009 based on their threat to human health. Annexes II through VI address what substances are prohibited and restricted, including ingredients such as colorants, preservatives and UV filters.\n",
"As of 2013, the European Union bans nearly 1,... |
Why did Standard Oil continue to drop prices as their monopoly went on? | I didn't know that happened. I do know that Standard Oil took a huge advantage in economies of scale and scope, that allowed it to drastically lower its cost compared to potential competitors. If Standard Oil did drop prices as you claim, then they valued market share over pricing in order to maximize revenue. If they ... | [
"Some economic historians have observed that Standard Oil was in the process of losing its monopoly at the time of its breakup in 1911. Although Standard had 90 percent of American refining capacity in 1880, by 1911 that had shrunk to between 60 and 65 percent, due to the expansion in capacity by competitors. Numer... |
ruby ridge incident. | Do you have a specific question?
If not I would direct you to the overall pretty decent wikipedia article.
_URL_0_
The short version is that the federal government had a sniper shoot people who were not threatening anyone and did not even know the feds were there, including a child and an unarmed woman. The fede... | [
"Ruby Ridge was the site of an 11-day siege near Naples, Idaho, U.S., beginning on August 21, 1992, when Randy Weaver, members of his immediate family, and family friend Kevin Harris resisted agents of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) and the Hostage Rescue Team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ... |
How common is cannibalism among animals? | [Searched](_URL_2_)
Relevant [discussion](_URL_4_)
Original question by [negativefps](_URL_1_)
> What exactly detracts humans and other animals from cannibalism?
Relevant comment courtesy [smalrebelion](_URL_0_)
> This. Members of the same species share almost identical immune systems so a disease that is capabl... | [
"Cannibalism is prevalent in aquatic ecosystems, in which up to approximately 90% of the organisms engage in cannibalistic activity at some point in their life-cycle. Cannibalism is not restricted to carnivorous species: it also occurs in herbivores and in detritivores. Sexual cannibalism normally involves the cons... |
why was jfk assassinated? | To put it simply, we don't know! There are a multitude of theories out there, some with more evidence than others, but there is no definitive answer to that question. | [
"In 1992, the popular but controversial movie \"JFK\" had renewed public interest in the assassination and particularly in the still-classified documents referenced in the film's postscript. Largely in response to the film, Congress passed the JFK Act, or \"President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection... |
What makes Jupiter's giant red spot red? | The spot actually changes color. Ranging from dark red, to white, to blending in with the clouds around it.
The spot is a stable vortex caused by opposing currents of hydrogen and other gases that make up Jupiters atmosphere.
The reason for it's color is not known precisely but has something to do with the chemical... | [
" The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is, by far, the largest extraterrestrial anticyclone (or cyclone) known. It is so large that about 2 to 3 Earths could fit inside it. The Great Red Spot has existed on Jupiter for at least 340 years. In the image at the left, the Great Red Spot can be seen near the top center. The Gr... |
Does it take more energy to heat water from 10°C to 20°, than it does to heat water from 80° to 90°? | Very, very close. As others have mentioned, the quantity you're looking for is "(specific) heat capacity". For water, there's a nice table at _URL_0_
For 10°C to 20°C it varies from 4.193 down to 4.184 kJ / (kg K), while for 80°C to 90°C it varies from 4.198 up to 4.208 kJ / (kg K), so it does take a bit more ener... | [
"All materials change with temperature, but superheated water exhibits greater changes than would be expected from temperature considerations alone. Viscosity and surface tension of water drop and diffusivity increases with increasing temperature.\n",
"As the heat of vaporisation (energy needed to vaporise water)... |
How do the rovers get there directional heading on Mars? | [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) – I don't have an account to read the full article, but the preview suggests that navigation is mainly done by physical landmarks. For coarse positioning and direction, you'd use the angle from the rover to larger hills and craters that you can match to satellite photos of the area. On the scale of o... | [
"Since the rover communicates with the ground controllers via the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), and the orbiter only passes over the rover approximately twice per sol, the ground controllers will not be able to actively guide the rover across the surface. The \"Rosalind Franklin\" rover is therefore designed to ... |
What would a standard English soldier during the late 1300s be composed of? | Some mail would have been in use. Much would have already shifted to plate harnesses. Since you didn't specify, I'm going to cover basics, using manuscript illustrations for reference, [sourced from here](_URL_1_)
[BL Yates Thompson 35 La chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin, dated 1380-1392](_URL_0_)
Looking at this pa... | [
"The English army was estimated to be between 7,000 and 10,000 strong and consisted of both English and Welsh soldiers combined with specialists and officials. It is considered to have been unusually well equipped for a medieval army and included miners, blacksmiths and Welsh to English interpreters. It included se... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.